Emirates Open Day Istanbul, full debrief, what happened at each stage
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#1 Attended the Emirates Open Day in Istanbul last month with a friend, sharing the whole timeline because I searched for exactly this before going.
08:00, Queue outside the hotel, around 180 people. CV drop, they took photos and checked your passport.
10:30, About 60 called back for the reach test (212 cm, on tiptoes, fine) and a short English chat.
12:00, Group exercise, 8 per table: rank 10 items for surviving in a desert. 20 minutes. The two loudest people at our table were not invited to the next stage.
14:00, Around 25 people got the final interview slot for the next day.My friend got through to the final interview, I didn't (I talked too much in the group, I know it now). Reapplying in 6 months.
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#2 This is a textbook Open Day and a very honest debrief, thank you. For anyone reading: the group exercise is not about the answer. Assessors mark whether you invite the quiet person in, whether you build on someone else's idea, and whether you keep smiling when the timer is at 2 minutes.
Three or four quality contributions. That's the whole game.
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#3 Mine in Barcelona was almost identical, same desert task. The people who made it to the final had one thing in common: they summarised the group's decision at the end calmly. Not the leaders, the summarisers.
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#4 Summariser, yes, that was exactly the role my friend took. Noted for next time.